Local policy-making mechanisms - Forest Climate Center

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Local Policy-making MechanismsPublic participation is important in orderto avoid passing regulations that benefitonly certain individuals or groups. A clearmechanism is necessary to allow local peopleto voice their opinions and aspirations and beactively involved in local policy making andimplementation.4.2.4 Reforming the permit allocationsystem in TanjabbarIn relation to the permit allocation proceduresin Tanjabbar, our research suggested thefollowing key points for policy reform:1. The District Regulation on IPHH andDistrict Head Decree No. 189/2003 do notclearly state the official fee for acquiringIPHHKR or IPHHKT permits. Thisloophole opens a window of opportunity forofficials to gain improper profits. To clarifythe legal position and improve transparencyin forestry sector contributions to districtrevenue, the official fees and taxes must beclearly stated in the District Head’s decree.If this is not done, significant amounts ofmoney will not go into the district revenuebut into the personal accounts of certainoffi cials.2. There is a lack of information forlocal communities regarding to permitallocations, thus disseminating basicinformation about policies and permitapplication procedures is an importantfactor in providing greater opportunitiesfor local communities to benefit from localforest resources.3. Weak systems for controlling andmonitoring how concessions are operatedresult in over-exploitation and unsustainablemanagement of local forest resources.Examples include logging outside thedesignated IPHHKR area or felling treesbelow the minimum permitted diameter.These illegal practices are nothing new:they were common under the centralizedlarge-scale commercial concession andindustrial timber plantation systems (HPH/HTI). Central government at that time wasnot able to control the activities carried outby the companies, and this has resulted indevastating forest degradation. Similarimpacts will apply in the implementation ofIPHH policy if the District Government ofTanjabbar does not improve the monitoringsystem through active local stakeholderparticipation. As the groups closest tothese resources, local communities couldplay an important role in an effectivesystem for monitoring IPHH operationsin the field. The district government couldinvolve village authorities as well aslocal communities (e.g., adat institutions,community organizations or informalleaders) more closely in policy making,including planning, implementation andevaluation processes.The adoption of these key points is highlyrecommended to avoid formulating andimplementing defective district policies andlaws that act against local people’s interestsand result in the permanent loss of valuableforestry resources.28
5IMPACTS OF IMPLEMENTING DECENTRALIZEDFORESTRY POLICIES5.1 The Problems of Verticaland Horizontal CoordinationAs part of its effort to increase regionallygenerated revenues (PAD), the TanjabbarDistrict Government has introduced localforestry fees 53 . It has established a LocalForestry Fees Collection Centre (TempatPenarikan Retribusi Kehutanan, TPR) anda Forest Protection and Conservation Post,known locally as P3H (Pos Pengamanan danPelestarian Hutan) in Tanjabbar. According tothe District Head, the purpose of the P3H is notonly to protect regional revenue sources butalso to halt illegal logging, which is rampant inthe district. The District Head hopes that P3Hwill decrease the transport of illegal timber toand from Tanjabbar. However, in practice theTPR and P3H have brought their own, newproblems:a. Dispute over authority between thedistrict and provincial governmentsThe authority to collect forest product feesstill lies with the provincial government.The application of a similar fee by TanjabbarDistrict Government effectively leads todouble taxation for permit holders (Syam 2003p.45). To resolve these coordination problems,on 15 April 2002 the provincial and districtgovernments in Jambi made an agreementconcerning Fee Collection and RevenueAllocation generated from the forestry,plantation and farming sectors. The agreementincluded uniform standards for different typesof permits and forestry fees in each district, asfollows:• Locally Issued Forest Product ExtractionPermits (IPHH) should be regulated bydistrict policies; they may be allocated on amaximum area of 100 ha inside or outsidethe official state forest, and are valid forsix months to one year. Only individuals(for privately owned land), cooperatives,district-owned companies, small/middlescaleprivate enterprises, state owned/privately owned companies in partnershipswith cooperatives/local farmers groups areeligible for these permits, and a local fee ispayable to the district government.• The fee payable was fixed according tothe type and size of trees logged, and thelocation of the permit site.This ranged between Rp. 5000/m 3 and Rp.60 000/m 3 , with the most mature treesfrom natural forests attracting the highesttariffs.• The agreement also set out exactly whichfees the district is authorized to collect 54 .The agreement also covered the distributionof local forest product (RHH) fee revenues.Producer districts have to deposit 40% oflocal fees collected in a special account heldby the provincial government, which willlater redistribute them to the other districts/municipalities: producer districts receive 60%,the provincial government receives 25% andnon-procedur districts/municipalities receive15%.This agreement was initiated by theGovernor of Jambi to reduce conflicts between29
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Page 13 and 14: 1INTRODUCTION1.1 BackgroundIndonesi
Page 15 and 16: Sudirman, Dede Wiliam and Nely Herl
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Page 55 and 56: 8REFERENCESAnonymous 1999 Surat Kep
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